Control of the maturation processes of fruits, as well as the physiological processes associated with maturation such as fruit abscission, sugar levels, or fruit color are very important in some crops such as for example vines (level and color) or olives (introduction of abscission for more efficient collection).
There are currently in the market substances that allow the generation of ethylene within the plant (Etefon, etheral). These substances are difficult to handle and may in fact produce important disorders in crops due to ethylene production not being controlled by the plant. It also has important problems relating to waste and safety periods. Compounds have also been used (derived from sulphonic acids) with the capacity to control maturation and abscission processes, for example in olives and citrics, but which do not describe whether they act upon ethylene or polyamine synthesis (ES465883). No patents have been found describing and protecting the capacity of HMTB to induce plant synthesis of ethylene and polyamines, and therefore to act upon fruit maturing processes such as fruit abscission, fruit color or sugar content. In fact, formulations containing this molecule as a main ingredient have proved to be very efficient in applications such as inducing olive abscission (which implies greater efficiency in fruit collection) or inducing sugar content and color in vines.
There are other products that have also been used such as 1-amine-cyclopropane carboxylic acid (JP61204121), which act upon plant ethylene synthesis.
The main problem experienced by these compounds is that together with the effects on maturation and abscission there are important side effects that consist in:                Causing the falling of leaves by acting only upon ethylene concentration.        Presence of waste.        Negatively affecting subsequent fruit preservation.        
A patent has also been filed including the effect of HMTB as an activator of mineral nutrient assimilation in plants and of metabolic processes associated to this greater increase in nutrient assimilation, such as for example protein synthesis, chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis (P200600178).
Subsequent studies performed in our laboratory have shown that HMTB (and derivatives), as well as being an effective nutritional activator, are capable of acting upon the internal balance of ethylene and polyamines. This last and novel effect is completely different to that described in patent P200600178 since this new effect claimed—induction of the endogenous synthesis of ethylene and putrescine—does not have any effect on nutrient assimilation. That is, the effect claimed in P200600178 (nutritional activator) is caused by different mechanisms to the effect claimed in the present patent.